Skyguide, Switzerland’s air navigation services provider, saw a slight 1.3% rise last year in its annual air traffic volumes. The very high punctuality levels achieved for 2013 were also marginally increased. All in all, 96.7% of skyguide’s flights were handled without delays, a 0.2-percentage-point improvement on the prior-year period. Geneva Airport reported a 1.9% increase in its air traffic volumes, while traffic at Zurich Airport was up 0.8%. Once again, it was the low-cost carriers that were the prime engine of Switzerland’s air traffic growth, with a further 5.8% year-on-year increase in their traffic volumes.Punctuality consistently highSkyguide maintained its punctuality performance at its already high levels in 2014, with 96.7% of all flights handled without delays. The result equals that of 2012 but with a higher traffic volume, and is only 0.2 percentage points below the all-time record of 2011. Skyguide’s en-route punctuality performance was equally impressive, with an average delay per flight of just 0.09 minutes. The delays that did occur were attributable primarily to short-term capacity shortages (52%), adverse weather conditions (22%), unforeseeable temporary personnel shortages (19%) and system maintenance work (6%). Geneva delays substantially reducedDelays for Geneva Airport were reduced by a substantial 24.2%, thanks largely to more advantageous weather and an easing of the previous personnel shortages. The main causes of the delays that were incurred were adverse weather (34%), insufficient runway capacity (32%), personnel shortages (19%), inadequate approach capacity (9%), the adoption of new procedures (3%) and maintenance work (2%). Delays at Zurich Airport in 2014 were 5.7% up on the previous year. The delays here were largely the result of adverse weather conditions (45%), insufficient runway capacity (42%), environmental constraints (8%), inadequate approach capacity (2%), airspace management activities (1%) and the adoption of new procedures (1%).Low-cost carriers driving growthWith further volume declines in the first three months of the year (January down 1.1%, February down 0.8% and March down 1.0%), it was not until spring 2014 that the recent downward traffic trends reversed. But from April onwards skyguide handled more monthly traffic than it had in 2013, with a peak increase in August of 4.0%. Traffic volumes for the year as a whole were 1.3% up, slightly below the STATFOR projection of 1.5% published in February 2014. Once again, it was the low-cost carriers, with a year-on-year increase of 5.8%, that served as the engine of Switzerland’s traffic volume growth. Charter flight volumes were up 0.9% and cargo flights were up 0.2%, while the traditional airlines saw their flight volumes fall 0.7% and the business aviation sector saw a 0.1% decline.Skyguide Media Release